Thanks for checking out this sample devotion! I wrote Junkyard Wisdom Advent with enough chapters so a reader had one devotion for each day of Advent. But I wrote too many chapters! While this particular entry is very good, it didn’t fit the overall flow of the book, so I had to cut it. Sigh.

This devotion showcases my unique writing style, sense of humor, and my somewhat edgy perspective. If you like what you read here, then please buy my book! You can find it in paperback, hardcover, Kindle, and even large print formats. Here’s a link.

Okay, now on to the free devotion! 

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The Awkward In-Between

2 Corinthians 8:9

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

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December 23 has always felt like an awkward, in-between day. We aren’t quite to Christmas yet, or even Christmas Eve, but at the same time it almost feels like the Advent wait is over. So we make up silly greetings, like “Merry Christmas Eve Eve!”

For Mary and Joseph, the wait must have been incredibly awkward. They didn’t even have Advent calendars filled with waxy chocolate to tell them exactly when the big day was coming! Their future was entirely unknown. It was close—they knew that by the shape of Mary’s belly—but it was still murky.

Today’s reading expresses some of that awkwardness as well. The Advent story is about God becoming a baby, entirely dependent on others. It’s a humbling, bewildering, awkward story that we’ve all tried to understand for 2,000 years. 

On their Advent road trip, Mary and Joseph have been pushed and pulled by forces beyond their control. Surprise, Mary, you’re pregnant! Surprise, Joseph, your fiancé is pregnant! Surprise, this baby is the Savior of the world! Surprise, you have to go to Bethlehem! Surprise, there are no rooms available! 

The awkwardness goes on and on. It’s humbling. 

I wonder if December 23, our Christmas Eve Eve, can be a day to accept some of those forces outside our control. Maybe we can embrace the awkwardness and the humility that comes with it, as Christ did. Maybe we can even tell that voice inside us—the one constantly whispering, “This is awkward, and I don’t like it!”—to just take a hike.

Sometimes awkward is okay. And sometimes awkward is exactly where we need to be for God to show up.

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How might feeling powerless drive you to rely on God even more?

Write a few words about a time God showed up for you in an awkward moment.